Toya Wolfe

LAST SUMMER ON STATE STREET by Toya Wolfe
I live in Chicago and for several years drove past the Robert Taylor Homes every day on my way to work and back to my home on the North Side. Those Homes were a source of fear, and yet also hope for both the people who lived there and the people who just drove by. Wolfe gathers those fears and hope and writes a story of hope, desperation, resilience, fear and joy.
FeFe is a girl on the cusp of womanhood with a protective mother and a brother who loves show more her and their mother, but is caught up in the gangs, drugs, violence and sex that is rampant in the Taylor homes. FeFe’s friends include girls who will “make it out” and some who will be caught by the violence and despair. FeFe is fortunate to have a teacher willing to extend herself for her students, a mother who teaches her self-respect and respect and concern for others.
You NEED to read this book. When you do, you may feel the guilt of privilege. Remember that every child deserves the privilege of hope, respect and love.
5 of 5 stars show less

CW: violence and sexual abuse, mostly "off screen," but significant

Toya Wolfe's Last Summer on State Street is a heart-breaking story told in a remarkable voice. Our narrator Fe Fe (short for Felicia) is watching the dismantling of her community over the summer of 1999. The Chicago housing project she lives in is being razed one building at a time to make room for a new development aimed at middle- and upper-class whites who work in Chicago and would like a shorter commute. Fe Fe's efforts show more to understand what's happening, in both personal and systematic, ways make her a particularly honest narrator—one whose questions aren't easily answered.

The project Fe Fe lives in (for now, at least) has been home to three generations of primarily southern Blacks come north and their offspring and is a world of intense—and dangerous—contradictions. The families residing there range from those whose lives are built around religion to single mothers doing their best to raise children who will avoid the worst the project has to offer to families affiliated with the gang that controls this particular building to those living in the chaos that accompanies addiction. There are church services, games of double dutch, assaults, and regular time spent crouching in the hallway when gunfire erupts.

Fe Fe is part of a group of four friends who came together playing double dutch, but whose bonds are being torqued by the expectations set by their different families. The girls are friends, but also on guard against one another because even friendship isn't a safe space in this community.

Most of the novel covers the summer of 1999, but the latter part also offers the viewpoint of an adult Fe Fe still trying to come to terms with that volatile summer.

If you're haunted by dark novels, this may be a title you'll want to approach carefully—but Fe Fe's voice and her refusal to give in to despair make the journey bearable and even hopeful. I'm still turning the events and characters of Last Summer on State Street over in my mind. I'm certain I'll be doing this for quite a while, and I'm finding that activity challenging, but very, very much worthwhile.

While this book is labeled as young adult, and that audience will find it remarkable, it's also an adult novel—not the kind of young adult/adult novel that offers older readers a bit of nostalgia, but one that offers as rich an experience for adult readers as any novel I've read in recent years.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via EdelweissPlus; the opinions are my own. show less

3.5? Loved the Chicago connection and view of the city - happening in my adult lifetime - why was I not more tuned in? Felicia (FeFe Stevens) gives us her 12-year-old perspective of her life in one of the towers of the Robert Taylor housing project, soon to be knocked down. Recounted from her adulthood, relying on memory, FeFe shares the story of her family (single mother, teenage brother) and her three best friends, Stacia, Precious, and Tonya '...names that sound like heartbeats" (1) "The show more four of us represented a gorgeous spectrum of tones." (10) Because it is memory, it has the quality of the timeline making sense to the narrator, but as a reader, I found it a little hard to fit together some of the pieces and isolated events into the larger whole. The friendship component transcends all time and space - what group of girls at age 12 doesn't have drama and challenges and re-formed allegiances at dizzying speed? FeFe is clearly the glue, kind and caring and friendly - she wants everyone to get along and have fun together, and appreciates each of the girls as individuals, but recognizes the differences that keep them from liking each other. Stacia is tough and hardened and her family has a reputation as gang leaders - they definitely have control in the building. Precious is the daughter of a minister and devout minister's wife, so she is constantly sheltered, and Tonya is new - shy and scared and scarcely a shadow -victim (in horrible ways) of her mother's drug addiction. They jump rope and chase boys and try to stay out of trouble and the line of fire, literally. All are on the cusp of teenage life and seem to know that this summer is the last childhood moment before everything changes. Not only are they facing the changes of puberty, but their futures are uncertain as their families must find new housing before the demolition. Being 'lease-compliant' is a big thing that FeFe doesn't fully understand and her mother doesn't want to face. Precious' parents are actively seeking other housing options and Stacia and Tonya's mothers don't care for completely different reasons. It puts a lot of grown up pressure on the girls. FeFe has the added stress of tension between her mother and her brother Meechie (Demetrius). She is determined to keep him safe from gang recruitment and activity, but it seems in that environment it is a losing battle. There is one glorious summer moment where the four girls go with FeFe's mother into the Loop/Lakefront for the 4th of July fireworks (3rd of July, by Chicago tradition) but they are as joyful and carefree as the colors in the sky. Otherwise, life is a lot more weighty, but still resonates with the idea of 'home' being among people you love, feel comfortable and safe with, and who know you in return. That transcends any physical structure. That and poignant observations and memories from FeFe are the heart of the book. "At a pretty young age, I learned that people used names to tear one another down....Somehow that summer, I stumbled upon an important fact about naming: it also has the power to build people up." (75) "They had wrapped that yellow caution tape around it [the building], trying to tell people that it was dangerous to play by the mess of bricks, and I though about how silly that was. That was the most dangerous part of the block? The demolished building? There wasn't enough caution tape in the world for our neighborhood." "That summer when I am twelve and Meechie is sixteen, we will lose so many things, so many people. Among the loss will be the high-rises that our family called home for three generations, but the high-rises aren't the most important thing we'll lose, that summer we will lose ourselves." (206) show less

“We didn’t know then that the practice of burying emotions created adults who’d struggle to build meaningful relationships; some of us would eventually completely forget how to access true feelings.”

In the summer of 1999, our twelve-year protagonist Felicia "FeFe" Stevens spends her days jumping rope with her three friends Precious, Shania and Tonya whom she has recently befriended, attending summer school (though she does not really have to) and keeping out of trouble under the show more watchful eye of her mother, who is protective of her children, FeFe and her older brother Meechie. The friends live in the Robert Taylor Homes, the housing projects in the Bronzeville area of Chicago’s South Side. FeFe is sweet and kind to others around her, befriending those who she knows has a rough time at home. The environment in the projects is volatile with rampant incidents of gang violence and shootings, substance abuse and exploitation. The projects are in the process of being demolished and one by one the buildings are being evacuated and residents are uprooted or relocated, depending upon the terms of Lease Compliancy and criminal background or lack thereof.

“That day is cemented in my memory. We watched them knock down what we thought was indestructible. I’d learn that so many things that I thought were solid and structured in my life could be broken down, bit by bit, just like those buildings.”

The author paints a heartbreaking portrait of a community plagued by hate crimes and gang violence, poverty, addiction and abuse through the eyes of a twelve-year-old who sees her life as she knew it and her friendships disintegrating in front of her own eyes. What saves her from a fate that would seem inevitable is the fierce protection of her mother and the positive influence of Mama Pearl and her teacher, Mrs. Pierce at school, a place she dubs “a refuge in a season of life when we needed to take cover”. Decades later, she is still haunted by the violence and loss she had witnessed as a child. As the narrative progresses, we, along with FeFe learn of the fate of her friends in the aftermath of their last summer on State State. As we follow FeFe’s life through the decades it is obvious that the events of the summer of 1999 have played a large role in the choices she has made, choosing a career that would emulate the positive influences she had in her formative years.

“We will meet people; they will transform us. We will see things that will age us.”

In short, Toya Wolfe’s Last Summer on State Street is a stunning debut. Toya Wolfe writes with heart and insight. This is a profoundly moving story of family, friendship, resilience and survival. Part coming of age, part family drama and social commentary of the times, this is a book that pulls you in and stays with you. show less